Download Principles of Nutrition Education

FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
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PRINCIPLES OF NUTRITION EDUCATION
Nutrition education is an instructional method that promotes healthy behaviours by imparting
information, which individuals can use to make informed decisions about food, dietary
habits, and health.
Developing a nutrition education plan
The plan describes the needs of the target population, goals and objectives for the
intervention activities, the programme format, the lesson plans (e.g. handouts, videos, etc),
the nutrition messages to be imparted to the target population, the marketing plan, any
partnerships that will support the programme development or delivery, and the evaluation of
instruments.
The table below shows activities related to developing a nutrition education plan
Target group
Activity
Assess needs
Set goals & objectives
Specify the format
Develop a lesson plan
Specify nutritional messages
Choose programme identifiers
Develop a marketing plan
Specify partnership
Conduct an evaluation research
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Individuals
Communities
Systems
Information can be obtained by reviewing the data obtained during the community
needs assessment and by conducting formative evaluation research.
The format might consist of three didactic lectures, six lectures and two cooking
demonstrations, or it might involve three individual counselling sessions and 10
group sessions.
The programme will consist of 90 minutes sessions which participants will have an
opportunity to set target dietary goals, try new behaviours, and assess their success. The
sessions will be organised as follows (e.g. based on risks of cardio - vascular disease):
1. Getting started
2. Looking for fat in all the right places
3. Cooking meat the low-fat way
4. Dairy goes low-fat
5. Focus on fruits & vegetables
6. Reading food labels
7. Grocery shopping make easy
8. Reading restaurant menus.
FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
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If format calls for individual counselling, facility must have private rooms for this activity. If the format calls for the formation of small groups,
conference rooms or classrooms for teaching groups should be provided.
If there cooking demonstrations are included, in the format, you should have counters, sinks, electrical outlets, and other equipment.
Develop lesson plans
The community nutritionist considers the instructional method: group sessions, one-to-one counselling, best suited for teaching. A programme
consisting mainly of group sessions is more likely to fit within the budget, because group sessions tend to be less costly than individual
counselling. The community nutritionist should decide whether to develop your own nutrition education material, use existing materials, or do
both. To save time, you should review existing programmes and their nutrition education materials to determine whether they can be used with or
adapted for a particular population.
Case – study: An example of lesson plans for two sessions of the “heartworks for women” programme.
Session
1.
Title
Getting started
2.
Looking for fat
in all the right
places
Session objectives
At the end of the session, participants
will be able to:

Describe the programme’s
two goals & four
objectives

Describe five major risk
factors for CHD



Define four types of
dietary fats
Describe major food
sources of dietary fat
Describe the major sources
of fat in the typical target
population’s diet
Instructional materials

Information form

Description of course goals, and
objectives

Handout of risk factors for heart disease

Handout “Recipe for summer salsa and
baked sweet potato chips

Brochure “Get the facts about heart
health”

Handout: “Definitions of fats”

Handout: “Dietary fats chart”

Handout” Goal sheet”
Learning activities

CHD & nutrition
knowledge pre-test

Handout “Am I ready to
change?”

Taste test of summer salsa
and baked chips


Dietary fats quiz
Completion of goal sheet:
reducing fat intake.
Nutrition message

Diets high in fat & saturated fat
raise blood total cholesterol

High blood cholesterol levels are
a risk factor for CHD

Low – fat cooking is easy
Choose low-fat foods more often than highfat foods.
Specify the nutrition messages


Messages should be specified for each lesson plan
Messages should convey a simple, easy – to – understand concept related to the lesson goals and objectives
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FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
Choose programme identifiers
These include: name, logo, an action figure or a tag line (which is a short, simple message that conveys a key intervention message and is used
on promotional materials, e.g. “Good food for good health”
Develop a marketing plan
“If you don’t exist in the media, for all practical purposes you don’t exist (Schorr, quoted by Boyle and Morris (1999 p. 268). Thus, the
community nutritionist should also use the media to make known what she/ he intends to do in and with the target population.
Specify partnerships
The nutritionist should network with national food companies to obtain complementary nutrition education materials for the course. Form
partnerships with grocery stores, retail establishments, government agencies, nongovernmental organisations, etc…to control the cost and increase
the reach of the programme.
Conduct a formative evaluation
For example, invite members of target population to review materials to be used in the programme for reading level and understanding. The target
population helps determine whether the materials are appropriate & useful.
Designing a nutrition and health messages
How can nutrition messages be formulated to influence consumer behaviour is the important question. The following are general ideas for
designing messages:
 Present information in a novel or unusual fashion. E.g. putting a logo (on T-shirts, golfshirts, jackets), pens, and magnetic memo boards.
No matter what the medium, the message, the message reaches consumers in unexpected ways.
 Use a language that says to consumers: “listen to this, it is important”
 Ask questions such as “how many listeners know the number of women who die from heart attacks every year?” if we use the example of
CHDs
 Think about the target population & consider the style & format of messages that will get their attention – children, teenagers, or adults.
Summary on effective communications from the American Dietary Guidelines Alliance
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FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
Give it to me straight – use simple, straightforward language. Don’t use scientific jargon
Make it simple & fun – make it clear that eating healthful diets and being physically active are not time consuming, complicated chores.
Emphasise on improving habits, not trying to achieve perfection.
Explain “what is in it for me” – make the benefits of healthy lifestyle clear. Use out comes to motivate consumers for change.
Stop changing your minds – be consistent in making recommendations
Implementing the programme
The goal of this phase of the planning process is to deliver as faithfully as possible the programme laid out in the nutrition education plan. A
record should be made of any unexpected problems so that a strategy for preventing them can be developed for future programmes.
Enhance programme participation
Participation refers to the number of people who take part in a health promotion activity and these are steps to follow:
1. Understand the target population & their needs and interests
2. Use evaluation research to improve the programme design
o Make the activity enjoyable and relevant to the target population’s needs.
o Remove barriers to participation
o Remember, people participate in health promotion activities for different reasons:
- To have fun
- Be wit friends or family
- Learn something new
- Be challenged
- Fulfil a goal, or
- Seek support
Find ways to help the target population see the immediate benefits of participating.
3. Use incentives e.g. T-shirts, cookbooks
4. Build ownership of the programme among participants by using slogans, action figures, and logos to enhance the programme’s identity.
5. Finally, promote, promote, promote, i.e. make the programme highly visible for the target population.
FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
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Conducting a summative evaluation
This is a research conducted at the end of a programme that helps determine whether the programme was effective and how it might be improved
on:
 Instructional materials
 Programme activities
 Physical arrangements (location, room temperatures, parking space, etc…)
 Registration procedures,
Participants are asked to rate these programme elements. The data obtained from a summative evaluation is used to improve the programme’s
delivery and effectiveness & make the programme an inviting place for learning.
MARKETING NUTRITON FOR HEALTH PROMOTION & DISEASE
PREVENTION
Marketing is the process by which individuals and groups get what they need and want by creating and exchanging products and values with
others. In line with the community nutrition and assessment, we carry out social marketing, which is more or less like the commercial
marketing defined above.
The social marketing consists of the design, implementation, and management of programmes that seek to increase the acceptability of a social
idea or practice among a target population.
The purpose of marketing is to find a problem, need or want (through marketing research) and to fashion a solution to it, which should be
outlined in the marketing plan.
Marketing plan
It describes precisely how and in what form the nutrition & health messages will be delivered to the target population. The chart below shows
steps in a developing marketing plan.
Determine needs & wants of the target population
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FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
Identify benefits of the product or service to the target
population
Conduct a situational analysis
Develop a marketing strategy:
 Product
 Place
 Price
 Promotion
Develop a budget & timeline
Implement the marketing strategy
Evaluate the marketing plan- use
SWOT: Strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats
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FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
Determine the needs & wants of target population:
 Some ideas about needs & wants can be gleaned from the community needs assessment and from focus group session held earlier in the
programme planning process. Asking questions of the target population can collect additional information.
 Specify the benefits of the product or service to the target population or service to the target population. People want intangible things
when they buy a product or service: safety, security, happiness, attractiveness, and fun.
 Conduct a situational analysis – analyse your potential market – select a target market, which will be the primary, distinct customer group
for your product, programme, or service (Target market = one particular market segment pinpointed as a primary customer group).
 Develop a marketing strategy for ensuring a good fit between the goals and resources of the organisation and the needs and wants of the
target population. The marketing strategy specifies a target market and four distinct elements traditionally known as the four Ps: product,
place, price, & promotion, which are referred to as the marketing mix (refers to a universal elements of marketing that are often called the
“four Ps” – product encompasses the range of services offered; price encompasses the monetary and intangible value of the product; place
refers to where the product is available; promotion is persuasive communication aimed at target users.)
FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
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Marketing mix
Place
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
Product
 Quality
 Features
 Style
 Packaging
 Services
Price




Channels of delivery required
Coverage
Locations
Inventory
Transport
Promotion
 Advertising
 Personal selling
 Publicity
List price
Discounts
Credit terms
Target market
Please note:
 Advertising means any paid form of non-personal presentation & promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor
 Promotion has four general objectives: to inform & educate consumers about the existence of a product or service and its capabilities; to
remind present & formers users of the product’s continuing existence; persuade prospective purchasers that the product is worth buying; to
inform consumers about where and how to abstain & use the product (accessibility, location, and time).
 The four most common promotional tools are advertising, sales promotion; communication / personal selling, and publicity.
FSN 214 – Community nutrition & assessment lecture notes
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Sales promotions are short-term incentives to encourage purchases or sales of a product or service.
Personal selling / communication involves oral presentation in c conversation with one or more prospective purchasers for
the purpose of making sales or building goodwill
Publicity refers to nonpersonal stimulation of demand for a product, service or business unit by planting commercial
significant news about it in a published medium or obtaining favourable presentation of it on radio, television, or stage that
is not paid for by the sponsor.
An example of a marketing mix can be “heartworks for women” programme to prevent coronary heart diseases among women.
Product
“Heartworks for
women” programme
Place
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Worksites
Universities/
colleges
Local private
health and
fitness clubs
Price
Each course will cost $
1 million / participant
Promotion
 Flyers,
brochures,
posters
 Internet
 Campus,
company
bulletin boards
 Press releases
 Newspapers
 Mother /
daughter walk.